Technology turning ugly, stalkers take to the Internet

Thursday

Apr 30, 2009 at 12:01 AMApr 30, 2009 at 2:40 AM

Stalking is about taking control from victims, making them feel powerless and watched at all times - and thanks to the Internet, social networking Web sites and cell phones, a stalker doesn't even have to leave home.

Norman Miller

Stalking is about taking control from victims, making them feel powerless and watched at all times - and thanks to the Internet, social networking Web sites and cell phones, a stalker doesn't even have to leave home.

"Bad people will take advantage of anything to do bad things. Stalkers are the same way," said Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone, speaking yesterday at a domestic violence roundtable at Keefe Tech.

"We've seen bullying for years, now we're seeing cyberbullying," he said. "Child predators have been around for years, now we're seeing cyberstalking, where predators hunt their prey online. People are using cyber means to exercise control to isolate their victims. It's a weapon for stalkers."

The roundtable focused on how cybertechnology is used to harass and intimidate domestic violence victims.

Usually held every two months, the discussions are a way to bring experts from different fields together to help solve and prevent domestic violence, Leone said.

More than 40 people from local police departments, social service agencies, hospitals, the probation department and the district attorney's office attended yesterday's gathering. The goal, Leone said, is to catch stalkers and "use the same technology they use to abuse against them."

Nearly 60 percent of all women have reported being stalked at least once. Of those, 81 percent have been physically assaulted, and a third of those were sexually assaulted, the district attorney said.

Leone cited the case of Hudson's Corey Headberg, who was convicted of stalking his high school girlfriend in Marlborough.

Headberg, 35, was arrested last May after years of stalking, using various online methods to harass the woman. He worked at a cell phone store and illegally acquired information about her and her boyfriends, whom he also harassed.

"It really shows how dangerous and scary this can be," Leone said. "He utilized all of these different communications to stalk her. It took stalking to all different levels."

To catch him, investigators used the same technology Headberg used.

Headberg pleaded guilty to several charges in January and was sentenced to five to seven years in state prison, to be followed by five years of probation with a ban from using a computer or any technology to access the Internet.

"Thankfully, he wasn't as anonymous as he thought it was," said Leone. "He pleaded guilty. He didn't plead guilty because he wanted to. He pleaded guilty because he had to."

Onyen Yong, an assistant district attorney and director of information technology for the Middlesex district attorney's office, discussed the various ways cyberstalkers follow their victims.

One of the easiest methods is through social networking Web sites, like Myspace and Facebook. Victims, he said, should always set their pages to private to prevent people from gaining information.

Another, newer method, is Twitter. That Web site allows people to post short messages so that other people can "follow" a particular person's doings.

"Twitter is fun. Everyone wants to know what's going on," said Yong. "There are good things at Twitter. But teens are posting where they are, 'I'm at the mall. I'm at the movies. I'll be there from 6 to 9 p.m."'

Another issue is passwords, Yong said. Passwords should never be something common or something someone who knows a person well could figure out. People should also keep several different e-mail addresses.

Phone numbers should always be unlisted, Yong said. He recommended that those who work with victims should Google themselves to see what kind of information is readily available about them, and then change what they can.